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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27080806">Running Out Of Time</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lln/pseuds/lln'>lln</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Caleb being Caleb, Gen, Mental Prison, Post Season 1, Whumptober 2020, caged</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 01:55:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>756</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27080806</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lln/pseuds/lln</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>For some unexplained reason, Nick doesn't know how he got home.</p><p>One minute he was standing on Julie's front step, flowers in hand to congratulate her on her performance from the night before, the next minute, he blinked and found himself standing in his bedroom.</p><hr/><p><b>Prompts:</b><br/>Caged | <s>Buried Alive</s> | <s>Collapsed Building</s></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1962109</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Running Out Of Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For some unexplained reason, Nick doesn't know how he got home.<br/>
<br/>
One minute he was standing on Julie's front step, flowers in hand to congratulate her on her performance from the night before, the next minute, he blinked and found himself standing in his bedroom. Flowers no longer in hand and wearing a completely different shirt then what he had put on that morning.<br/>
<br/>
"What the hell?!" Nick glanced around in confusion.<br/>
<br/>
"Honey," His mother knocked on his bedroom door, "If you don't hurry up you're going to be late for school."<br/>
<br/>
"School?" Nick whispered to himself as his mother walked away, that couldn't be right. Julie’s performance had been on Friday night, he had gone to see her Saturday morning. There was no way it could be Monday already.<br/>
<br/>
He pulled out his phone to check the date, but frowned at the black screen. The device was completely dead, but Nick never let his phone die. Making his way to his desk, Nick plugged the phone into it’s charger and waited a moment. He tried turning it on, but the phone remained unresponsive.<br/>
<br/>
Nick didn’t understand what was happening, maybe Julie could clear a few things up for him, things that were missing. Grabbing his bag for school, Nick made his way to his bedroom door and twisted the handle. But the door wouldn’t budge. A weird blue glow incased the door when he touched the handle.<br/>
<br/>
Nick frowned and tried again. The door rattled in it’s frame, but didn’t open and the glow grew brighter.<br/>
<br/>
“Mum!” Nick banged his fists against the door, blue bursts sparking each time his fists made contact, “Something’s wrong with my door! Mum!”<br/>
<br/>
There was a moment of silence, but his mum didn’t answer. In fact, there were no other noises at all coming from the rest of the house.<br/>
<br/>
Nick spun around fast and went for his window. He had climbed down before, it was a piece of cake. But no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn’t budge either and it too glowed blue where his hands touched.<br/>
<br/>
Nick started to panic. He needed to get out.<br/>
<br/>
Going back to his desk, Nick picked up his desk chair and attempted to smash out the glass in his window. He swung hard, but his eyes widened as the chair bounced harmlessly an inch from the glass. The momentum sent Nick crashing to the floor and the chair flying back towards the door.<br/>
<br/>
“Ooh, nice try,” A male voice echoed throughout the room, it was accompanied by a mocking round of applause, “I’ll give you an A for effort.”<br/>
<br/>
Nick’s eyes darted around the room, trying to locate the owner of the voice.<br/>
<br/>
“Over here Nicky,” The voice sounded from the mirror hanging on the back of his door.<br/>
<br/>
Nick slowly pushed himself to his feet and made his way over to stand in front of the mirror. He gasped as a man materialized in place of his reflection. He wore a black suit and steampunk inspired glasses.<br/>
<br/>
“Who are you?” Nick asked in shock, <em>‘There’s a strange man in the mirror, what the hell is happening!’</em><br/>
<br/>
“My name is Caleb.” Nick didn’t like the smug look on the man’s face.<br/>
<br/>
“What do you want with me?”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh nothing much,” Caleb carelessly shrugged, “You’re already doing everything I need.”<br/>
<br/>
Nick frowned, not quite understanding what Caleb was saying.<br/>
<br/>
“Just sit back, relax, take a load off,” Caleb smirked as he faded away, “It’ll be over before you know it.”<br/>
<br/>
Nick felt his heart rate rise, his breath started to come out in short bursts, “Let me out!” Nick screamed over and over again as he pulled at the door handle again. But his cry’s went unheard by the outside world.<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<hr/><p><br/>
<br/>
In the real world, Caleb-as-Nick smirked at his reflection as he exited the mental cage he had paced the real Nick in. He watched the mirror as Nick continued to bang on the door, screaming to be let out, but all he did was exhaust himself, crumpling to the ground after minutes of screaming.<br/>
<br/>
Caleb-as-Nick tilted his head and tightened the power holding Nick in his prison, there was no need for an escape attempt, he needed more uninterrupted time to get closer to the <em>lifer</em> that had stolen his band.<br/>
<br/>
Little Julie Molina will regret the day she took what was his and using a face that she cared about made it that much more sweeter. Caleb-as-Nick couldn’t wait to crush her heart and her spirit.<br/>
<br/>
<b>The End</b></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Let me know what you think :D</p><p>If you want to, come talk to me on my <b><a href="https://llnwritings.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a></b></p></blockquote></div></div>
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